Mike Causey’s ‘misclassified’ driver billed NC nearly $14,000 for trips, records say [The News & Observer (Raleigh)]

In five years as Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey’s paid driver, Roger Blackwell cost taxpayers nearly $14,000 in hotel, meals and other bills, including a nearly $1,400 vehicle rental for a three-day conference in New Jersey.

The travel expenses say Causey used Blackwell to drive on overnight travel across the state and as far away as Colorado on state business. Requested through a public records request in August, the records were obtained by The News & Observer this month.

Blackwell, 77, is a longtime friend and campaign donor to Causey, who hired him as a temporary employee shortly after being first elected commissioner in 2016.

The travel expenses do not include the wages paid to Blackwell, who in 2022 alone made more than $84,000.

Causey and others in the department told The N&O in June that Blackwell was a part-time driver also providing security. But for the past two years, Blackwell was classified as a temporary “deputy secretary/commissioner I” making $44 an hour.

After The News & Observer reported that apparent mismatch in January, NCDOI this month told state officials that was a misclassification and are seeking to change it.

In a letter to the Office of State Resources, the NCDOI human resources director wrote that Blackwell had far more responsibilities than chauffeuring the commissioner but his “duties do not encompass the scope of authority of a Deputy Secretary/Commissioner I.”

The travel records identify Blackwell as a “Liaison to the Commissioner.”

Why does Mike Causey have drivers?

The commissioner and NCDOI officials did not respond to an email and phone request for comment about Blackwell’s travel costs.

Causey’s travel records show the commissioner has not flown to work-related events out of state. In a brief comment to The N&O after last month’s Council of State meeting, Causey said it’s cheaper to drive, but he did not provide records and other information to back that claim.

The travel records show Blackwell accompanied Causey on 15 out-of-state trips and eight in-state trips involving hotel stays from 2019 to last year. The records may be incomplete, since Causey’s travel records show Blackwell accompanied him on two out-of-state trips in 2018.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners reimbursed Blackwell for roughly $6,500 in hotel stays, meals and a car rental expense for six of those out-of-state trips and partially reimbursed him for a seventh, the travel records show. NAIC charges each state annual dues, with North Carolina paying nearly $58,000 in 2023, according to the association’s annual budget.

Blackwell traveled with Causey on at least three of his four trips to Portales, NM, travels that have been described in expense reports as visits to fire departments and chiefs, emergency response officials or to a fraud conference. A fire chief in Portales, a small city of about 12,000 people near the Texas border, told The N&O that Causey told him that he has family originally from the small town of Causey about 30 miles southeast.

The $1,393 vehicle rental was for a National Council of Insurance Legislators conference in Jersey City, NJ, in July 2022. Travel records show John Cable, NCDOI’s deputy commissioner for bail bonds regulation, also attended.

Blackwell also drove Causey to fire departments across North Carolina to distribute checks on four occasions that each required a night in a hotel, the records show. Ted Brown, a former senior adviser to Causey, criticized those trips in an email to state Senate leader Phil Berger, saying the travel amounted to politicking at public expense.

Most Council of State officials do not have regular drivers, with the exception of the governor and lieutenant governor, their spokespeople told The N&O. The attorney general and state superintendent of schools have part-time drivers used on a limited basis, according to their offices.

Causey hired a second part-time driver, Steve Myers, a retired state trooper, last year. Department officials have yet to agree to disclose his pay or hire date, but said last week he has not traveled with Causey for out-of-state business.

Causey, 73, of Greensboro, a former lobbyist, small businessman and insurance agent, is seeking a third term as commissioner. Other candidates for his office have criticized Causey for hiring Blackwell, an Archdale city councilman and part-time sheriff’s captain, and others with personal or political connections to the commissioner.

Staff writer Kyle Ingram contributed to this report.

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